Commonwealth Government Line of Steamers / Australian
Commonwealth Line of Steamers

Officially named the Commonwealth Government Line of Steamers,
the company was formed in 1916 with fifteen second hand British tramp
steamers, all named AUSTRAL_____. which were used mainly to export Australian
wheat and wool from Australia to Europe and the U.S.A. The company also
operated 23 ex-German and Austrian ships which had been seized at the
outbreak of war in 1914 including five sailing vessels. A quantity of
wooden hulled cargo steamers were also purchased from the U.S.A. The
majority of these ships were sold when they became uneconomical to run.
Five passenger ships named ____BAY were built in 1921-1922 to run between
Australia and London and two large cargo vessels FORDSDALE and FERNDALE.
In 1923 the line was restructured as the Australian Commonwealth Line
of Steamers but by late 1926, due to the slump in the shipping trade,
the company was left with only the seven BAY and DALE ships. However,
by 1928 these also had been sold and the company was wound
up.

Abbreviations:

MOWT Ministry of War Transport

AUSN Co. Australasian United Steam Navigation Co.

Many thanks to Ted Finch for his assistance in collecting this data.
The following list was extracted from various sources. This is not an
all inclusive list but should only be used as a guide. If you would like
to know more about a vessel, visit the Ship
Descriptions (onsite) or Immigrant
Shipweb site.

barque, built 1892 as North
Star for A. Boxborough & Co., London, 1898 sold to A. G. Ulster,
Hamburg renamed Alsterufer, 1912 sold to F. A. Vine, Bremen renamed
Susanne
Vinnen, 1914 seized by Australian authorities, 1915 chartered to
Western Australian State Sawmills renamed Carrabin, 1917 torpedoed
and sunk by U-96 off Ireland.

ex- Cannstatt, 1914 seized from German-Australian
Line, 1915 renamed Bakara, 1925 sold to Roland
Line, Bremen renamed Witell, 1926 to North
German Lloyd, Bremen, 1937 sold to Hamburg
South America Line renamed Rosario, sunk during German invasion
of Norway, raised and repaired, 1945 badly damaged by Allied air
raid on Hamburg, allocated to Denmark and repaired, 1948 sold to
Finland renamed Albertina, 1950 renamed Kotka, 1956 sold to British
MOWT and scuttled with cargo of surplus ammunition.

1931 sold to John Hvide's Rederi A/S, Bergen renamed
Wollert, 1932 sold to A/S Norseasiatic SS Co., Oslo renamed Ivanhoe,
1937 sold to Shanghai renamed Yoh Hsing, 1937 sold to Muir Young
Ltd, London renamed Cree, 22nd Nov.1940 torpedoed and sunk by U.123
in North Atlantic.